Yale Students Mark Islam Awareness Week

Muslim students at prestigious Yale University have hosted the annual
Islam Awareness week that turned into a bittersweet event in which they
helped their colleagues to learn about Islam, though being reminded by
rising anti-Muslim hate crimes.

“Islam Awareness Week this year
has been bittersweet,” Elamin Elamin ’18 said in opening remarks for a
“Positioning Islam Today” teach-in held Saturday, Yale Daily News
reported on Monday, March 7.

“While we have enjoyed the
opportunity to have events, discussions, and hand out roses … we were
harshly reminded of the real, tragic impact of senseless violence that
plagues the Muslim community.

“In a time when hate crimes such as
violence against individuals and vandalism of mosques are the highest
since 9/11, it is most pressing that we speak and learn about Islam in
an open and honest way.”

Islam Awareness Week was hosted by the Muslim Students Association at Yale from February 28 to March 5...

Humorous ads targeting Muslim stereotypes debut on N.Y.C. subway

Humorous ads for a
documentary film that aims to promote understanding and tolerance of
Muslims went up in New York subways on Monday after the movie's
production company won a legal battle with the city's transit
authority...

The ad campaign strives to combat negative
perceptions of Muslims as the world grapples with accommodating millions
of people fleeing Middle East violence and abject poverty in other
parts of Africa.

"The point of the
movie is just to show Muslims in a positive light, to build a bridge
with mainstream Americans," Farsad said in an interview.
"Muslim-Americans can be super-hilarious and that's kind of just what we
want to show people."...

WASHINGTON – Becoming a role model for Muslim women worldwide, Rumana
Ahmed is the only hijabi employee in six US Muslims who work in the
white house, expressing enthusiasm to serve their country.

“First
of all, I couldn’t believe I was in this building. I was a little
over-conscious of how people might be looking at me,” Ahmed, who works
as an advisor to US President Barack Obama’s deputy national security
advisor, Ben Rhodes, told Al Arabiya about joining work in the White
House.

However, “people were so nice, they looked at me just like
they looked at every single other person. Ben, my boss, has given me
exciting opportunities to be in front of the president...

The Islamic center of Naperville, Illinois, has received more than
1000 visitors in a successful open house, offering them true information
about Islam and giving them an insight into Islamic and Arabic
contributions to the sciences and arts.

US Muslims Lobby for 2nd National Advocacy Day

Hundreds of Muslim delegates from different American states are
lobbying efforts for the coming National Muslim Advocacy Day on Capitol
Hill in Washington next April 18.

“With a dynamic legislative
agenda, American Muslims are positioned to advocate for core social
justice issues that will benefit all Americans, regardless of faith or
background,” Robert McCaw, chairman of the US Council of Muslim
Organizations (USCMO) Advocacy Day steering committee, said in a
statement released by The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
on Wednesday, March 16.

The second event, planned on Monday, April 18, will be attended by some 300 delegates from more than 20 states...

Illinois Groups Campaign Against BigotryAngered by anti-Muslim rhetoric flared by politicians and
presidential hopefuls, religious and social justice organizations in
Evanston, Illinois, have launched a poster campaign to decry Muslim
profiling and welcome refugees to their city.

“We want a visual
reminder for everyone going through Evanston that Evanston is not a
community that supports hate or religious bigotry,” Lesley Williams, an
Evanston resident, told Chicago Tribune.

Williams, who organized a
previous rally held in December against hateful rhetoric, warned that
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has continued to be
the source of “a lot of hateful rhetoric” directed toward Muslims and
undocumented immigrants.

“The continual onslaught is very
intimidating to a lot of people of Muslim, Middle Eastern or Latin
American backgrounds and contributes to this feeling that they don’t
belong and are not a part of the American landscape,” said Williams, a
member of Jewish Voices for Peace-Chicago — one of the groups that
organized Sunday’s event...

Muslim Festival Extends Bridges in Memphis

Building bridges among different communities, the Muslim community in
Memphis has hosted MusliMeMfest to strengthen the relationship between
the diverse peoples of Memphis and Shelby County and spread more
information on Islamic culture.

“I just like for people to know
we’re just normal people, we happen to practice the faith of Islam,”
Angie Odeh, marketing coordinator for the free festival, told The
Commercial Appeal.

“We’ve put special emphasis on what we’d like
to share about ourselves that people want to know, especially in this
political climate right now.”

The free festival was held last Saturday, March 26, from 10 am to 8 pm at the Agricenter building in Memphis.

Held
for the first year, MusliMeMfest is the latest addition to a series of
events hosted by the Memphis community during March over the past 14
years...

Muslim Woman Gives Up Dr Pepper Twitter Handle to Help Flint

FLINT – As Flint water crisis continues to bite residents, unexpected
huge help came from a Michigan Muslim woman who gave up famous Dr
Pepper Twitter handle in exchange of thousands of water bottles to the
city where high levels of lead were found in the city’s municipal water
supply.

“I had been thinking a lot about Flint at that point,” Diana Hussein, 29, told ABC News on Wednesday, March 30.

“I didn’t feel there was anything that I was doing.”

Hussein,
who is of Arab origin, decided to step in and offer help to the
deflected city by giving up @DietDrPepper twitter handle she created in
2009...

The Texas-based business delivered 41,000 bottles of water last month in exchange for the @DietDrPepper Twitter handle.

Hussein,
who works as a communications specialist, said she was thinking “maybe I
could convince them to do some kind of monetary contribution” to help
Flint.

“When I found out they owned and distributed [bottles of water], I thought that was a really great opportunity.”

Muslim Community Forgives Mosque Shooter

An American citizen who once shot his neighboring mosque in Meriden,
Connecticut, has visited his Muslim neighbors’ house of worship,
offering apology and opening a new page of relations to bridge gaps.

“I
was drinking that night more than I probably should have been,” Ted A.
Hakey Jr. told more than 50 members and guests who attended a symposium
titled “True Islam and the Extremists” at “House of Peace” Mosque,
Hartford Courant reported.

“As a neighbor, I did have fears, but
fear is always when you don’t know something. The unknown is what you
are always afraid of. I wish I had come knocked on your door, and if I
spent five minutes with you, it would have made all the difference in
the world. And I didn’t do that.

“Going forward,” he added, “I
want to help you bridge that gap and help someone else not make the same
mistake I did. … Everything happens for a reason and I believe some
good will come out of this.”

Back in November 2015, a heavy drunk Hakey picked up one of his guns and fired several shots at the mosque next to his home...

Facing his fears, he visited the mosque asking for forgiveness which was granted immediately with open hearts.

“We all had tears, and words cannot express that,” Dr. Mohammed Qureshi, president of the Meriden mosque, said.

“We
will be better neighbors and what was said that day made a huge
difference to us. We greeted and we hugged just like a Muslim neighbor.
We know why he did what he did — because he never heard our message. We
now see it in his heart and we see it in his eyes.”

Attending the
event, Rev. Norm Erlendson, a minister the Third Congregational Church
of Middletown, said there will be no peace on Earth until there is peace
among religions.

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